Ripe for God’s Restoration
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Posted:Jan 7, 2024 6:47 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21411 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Psalm 80:1, 7–14, 19
Bible in a Year: Genesis 18–19; Matthew 6:1–18
Restore us, God Almighty; . . . that we may be saved. Psalm 80.7
The pictures coming from a friend’s text stream were stunning! Photos of a surprise gift for his wife revealed a restored 1965 Ford Mustang: brilliant, dark blue exterior; sparkling chrome rims; reupholstered black interior; and a motor to match the other upgrades. There were also “before” pictures of the same vehicle—a dull, worn, unimpressive yellow version. While it may be difficult to envision, it’s likely that when the vehicle rolled off the assembly line, it was also an eye-catcher. But time, wear and tear, and other factors had made it ripe for restoration.
Ripe for restoration! Such was the condition of God’s people in Psalm 80 and thus the repeated prayer: “Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved” (v. 3; see vv. 7, 19). Though their history had included rescue from Egypt and being planted in a land of plenty (vv. 8–11), the good times had come and gone. Because of rebellion, they were experiencing the hand of God’s judgment
(vv. 12–13). Thus, their plea: “Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!” (v. 14).
Do you ever feel dull, distant, or disconnected from God? Is joyful soul-satisfaction missing? Is it because alignment with Jesus and His purposes is missing? God hears our prayers for restoration (v. 1). What’s keeping you from asking?
When have you experienced the restorative, reviving work of God? What areas of your life need restoration now?
Father, I long for Your restoration. Help me to see my need for it and to receive it.
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The Meaning of Myrrh
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Posted:Jan 6, 2024 6:31 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21814 Views
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The Meaning of Myrrh
Today's Devotional
Read: Matthew 2:9–13
Bible in a Year: Genesis 16–17; Matthew 5:27–48
Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11
Today is Epiphany, the day which commemorates the event described by the carol “We Three Kings of Orient Are” when gentile wisemen visited the Jesus. Yet they weren’t kings, they weren’t from the Far East (as Orient formerly meant), and it’s unlikely there were three of them.
There were, however, three gifts, and the carol considers each. When the magi arrived in Bethlehem, “They opened their treasures and presented [Jesus] with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). The gifts symbolize Jesus’ mission. Gold represents His role as King. Frankincense, mixed with the incense burned in the sanctuary, speaks of His deity. Myrrh, used to embalm dead bodies, gives us pause.
The fourth verse of the carol says, “Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume / breathes a life of gathering gloom; / sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, / sealed in the stone-cold tomb.” We wouldn’t write such a scene into the story, but God did. Jesus’ death is central to our salvation. Herod even attempted to kill Jesus while He was yet a (v. 13).
The carol’s last verse weaves the three themes together: “Glorious now behold him arise; / King and God and sacrifice.” This completes the story of Christmas, inspiring our response: “Alleluia, Alleluia, / sounds through the earth and skies.”
How do you feel when you ponder the truth that Jesus was born to die for you? How does His resurrection inspire you?
Heavenly Father, may Your Spirit help me live my life in gratitude for Your giving His life for me.
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God at the Crossroads
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Posted:Jan 5, 2024 5:19 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21927 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Deuteronomy 30:15–20
Bible in a Year: Genesis 13–15; Matthew 5:1–26
Stand at the crossroads and look; . . . ask where the good way is, and walk in it. Jeremiah 6:16
After days of illness and then spiking a high temperature, it was clear my husband needed emergency care. The hospital admitted him immediately. One day folded into the next. He improved, but not enough to be released. I faced the difficult choice to stay with my husband or fulfill an important work trip where many people and projects were involved. My husband assured me he’d be fine. But my heart was torn between him and my work.
God’s people needed His help at the crossroads of life’s decisions. Far too often, they hadn’t adhered to His revealed instructions. So Moses implored the people to “choose life” by following His commands (Deuteronomy 30:19). Later, the prophet Jeremiah offered words of direction to God’s wayward people, wooing them to follow His ways: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it” (Jeremiah 6:16). The ancient paths of Scripture and God’s past provision can direct us.
I imagined myself at a physical crossroads and applied Jeremiah’s template of wisdom. My husband needed me. So did my work. Just then, my supervisor called and encouraged me to remain home. I drew a breath and thanked God for His provision at the crossroads. God’s direction doesn’t always come so clearly, but it does come. When we stand at the crossroads, let’s make sure to look for Him.
Where do you need direction today? How might God be revealing Himself to you?
Dear God, when I’m uncertain, help me to stand at the crossroads and look for Your provision.
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Quiet Faithfulness in Christ
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Posted:Jan 4, 2024 2:49 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21881 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:1–2, 9–12
Bible in a Year: Genesis 10–12; Matthew 4
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands. 1 Thessalonians 4:11
I didn’t notice him at first.
I’d come down for breakfast at my hotel. Everything in the dining room was clean. The buffet table was filled. The refrigerator was stocked, the utensil container packed tight. Everything was perfect.
Then I saw him. An unassuming man refilled this, wiped that. He didn’t draw attention to himself. But the longer I sat, the more I was amazed. The man was working very fast, noticing everything, and refilling everything before anyone might need something. As a food service veteran, I noticed his constant attention to detail. Everything was perfect because this man was working faithfully—even if few noticed.
Watching this man work so meticulously, I recalled Paul’s words to the Thessalonians: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). Paul understood how a faithful worker might win others’ respect—offering a quiet testimony to how the gospel can infuse even seemingly small acts of service for others with dignity and purpose.
I don’t know if the man I saw that day was a believer in Jesus. But I’m grateful his quiet diligence reminded me to rely on God to live out a quiet faithfulness that reflects His faithful ways.
How should your faith affect the way you work? In what ways is being a faithful worker a powerful testimony?
Father, please help me to remember that there are no small jobs in Your kingdom and to faithfully serve You each day.
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Spotting Hope
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Posted:Jan 3, 2024 4:37 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21986 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Psalm 33:6–9, 12–22
Bible in a Year: Genesis 7–9; Matthew 3
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:22
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle has seen the deterioration of coral reefs firsthand. She founded Mission Blue, an organization devoted to the development of global “hope spots.” These special places around the world are “critical to the health of the ocean,” which impacts our lives on earth. Through the intentional care for these areas, scientists have seen the relationships of underwater communities restored and lives of endangered species preserved.
In Psalm 33, the psalmist acknowledges that God spoke everything into existence and ensured that all He made would stand firm (vv. 6–9). As God reigns over generations and nations (vv. 11–19), He alone restores relationships, saves lives, and revitalizes hope. However, God invites us to join Him in caring for the world and the people He created.
Each time we praise God for the whisper of a rainbow splashed across a clouded, gray sky or the glistening waves of the ocean crashing against a rocky shore, we can proclaim His “unfailing love” and presence as we “put our hope” in Him (v. 22).
When we’re tempted toward discouragement or fear as we consider the current state of the world, we may begin to believe we can’t make a difference. When we do our part as members of God’s care team, however, we can honor Him as the Creator and help others spot hope as they place their trust in Jesus.
How has God used nature to affirm your hope in Him? How can you serve as part of His care team?
Loving Creator and Sustainer, help me be a hope-spotter who faithfully serves on Your care team.
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The Also Rises
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Posted:Jan 2, 2024 5:03 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 22093 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Ecclesiastes 1:1–11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 4–6; Matthew 2
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down. Ecclesiastes 1:5
Ernest Hemingway’s first full-length novel features hard-drinking friends who’ve recently endured World War I. They bear the literal and figurative scars of the war’s devastation and try to cope with it via parties, grand adventures, and sleeping around. Always, there is alcohol to numb the pain. No one is happy.
Hemingway’s title for his book The Sun Also Rises comes straight from the pages of Ecclesiastes (1:5). In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon refers to himself as “the Teacher” (v. 1). He observes, “Everything is meaningless” (v. 2) and asks, “What do people gain from all their labors?” (v. 3). Solomon saw how the sun rises and sets, the wind blows to and fro, the rivers flow endlessly into a never satisfied sea (vv. 5–7). Ultimately, all is forgotten (v. 11).
Both Hemingway and Ecclesiastes confront us with the stark futility of living for this life only. Solomon, however, weaves bright hints of the divine into his book. There is permanence—and real hope. Ecclesiastes shows us as we truly are, but it also shows God as He is. “Everything God does will endure forever,” said Solomon (3:14), and therein lies our great hope. For God has given us the gift of us His , Jesus.
Apart from God, we’re adrift in an endless, never satisfied sea. Through His risen , Jesus, we’re reconciled to Him, and we discover our meaning, value, and purpose.
What occupies your time and what meaning does it hold? How might you change your priorities to follow Jesus?
Loving Father, help me find my fulfillment in You.
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New Identity in Jesus
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Posted:Jan 1, 2024 9:00 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 22013 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:14–21
Bible in a Year: Genesis 1–3; Matthew 1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us. 1 John 3:1
“I’m not who I once was. I’m a new person.” Those simple words from my , spoken to students at a school assembly, describe the change God made in his life. Once addicted to heroin, Geoffrey previously saw himself through his sins and mistakes. But now he sees himself as a of God.
The Bible encourages us with this promise: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). No matter who we’ve been or what we’ve done in our past, when we trust Jesus for our salvation and receive the forgiveness offered through His cross, we become someone new. Since the garden of Eden, the guilt of our sins has separated us from God, but He has now “reconciled us to himself through Christ,” “not counting” our sins against us (vv. 18–19). We are His dearly loved (1 John 3:1–2), washed clean and made new in the likeness of His .
Jesus liberates us from sin and its dominating power and restores us into a new relationship with God—where we’re free to no longer live for ourselves but “for him who died for [us] and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). On this New Year’s Day, let’s remember that His transforming love compels us to live with new identity and purpose. It helps us point others to our Savior, the One who can make them new people too!
What does it mean to you that a new beginning is possible with God? How can you live as His “new creation”?
Abba, Father, thank You for sending Your to save me. Please send me to someone who needs You too.
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The Righteous City
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Posted:Dec 31, 2023 6:26 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 21883 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Hebrews 13:14–21 | Bible in a Year: Malachi 1–4; Revelation 22
May he produce in you . . . every good thing that is pleasing to him. Hebrews 13:21
On New Year’s Eve 2000, officials in Detroit carefully opened a hundred-year-old time capsule. Nestled inside the copper box were hopeful predictions from some city leaders who expressed visions of prosperity. The mayor’s message, however, offered a different approach. He wrote, “May we be permitted to express one hope superior to all others . . . [that] you may realize as a nation, people, and city, you have grown in righteousness, for it is this that exalts a nation.”
More than success, happiness, or peace, the mayor wished that future citizens would grow in what it means to be truly just and upright. Perhaps he took his cue from Jesus, who blessed those who long for His righteousness (Matthew 5:6). But it’s easy to get discouraged when we consider God’s perfect standard.
Praise God that we don’t have to rely on our own effort to grow. The author of Hebrews said it this way: “May the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:20–21). We who are in Christ are made holy by His blood the moment we believe in Him (v. 12), but He actively grows the fruit of righteousness in our hearts throughout a lifetime. We’ll often stumble on the journey, yet still we look forward to “the city that is to come” where God’s righteousness will reign (v. 14).
For what Christlike attributes would you like to be known? How can you encourage others to seek God’s righteousness?
Dear God, please work in me what’s pleasing to You.
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Troubled Souls, Honest Prayers
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Posted:Dec 30, 2023 5:58 am
Last Updated:Dec 30, 2023 5:59 am 20395 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: John 12:27–32
Bible in a Year: Zechariah 13–14; Revelation 21
Father, glorify your name! John 12:28
Three days before a bomb blast rocked his home in January 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had an encounter that marked him for the rest of his life. After receiving a threatening phone call, King found himself pondering an exit strategy from the civil rights movement. Then prayers emerged from his soul. “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.” After his prayer, there came quiet assurance. King noted, “Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”
In John 12, Jesus acknowledged, “My soul is troubled” (v. 27). He was transparently honest about His internal disposition; still He was God-centered in His prayer. “Father, glorify your name!” (v. 28. Jesus’ prayer was one of surrender to God’s will.
How human it is for us to feel the pangs of fear and discomfort when we find ourselves with the option of honoring God or not; when wisdom requires making hard decisions about relationships, habits, or other patterns (good or bad). No matter what we’re faced with, as we pray boldly to God, He’ll give us the strength to overcome our fear and discomfort and do what brings glory to Him—for our good and the good of others.
What experiences have prompted prayers for God to be honored? What advice would you give to others facing such situations?
Father, please help me to face challenging things honestly and prayerfully that are for my good and will bring You glory.
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The Crown of Life
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Posted:Dec 29, 2023 6:08 am
Last Updated:May 15, 2024 2:15 pm 7908 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: James 1:1–12
Bible in a Year: Zechariah 9–12; Revelation 20
God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. James 1:12
Twelve-year-old LeeAdianez Rodriguez-Espada was worried that she’d be late for a 5K run (just over 3 miles). Her anxiousness led her to take off with a group of runners fifteen minutes earlier than her start time with participants of the half-marathon (more than 13 miles)! LeeAdianez fell in pace with other runners and put one foot in front of the other. At mile four, with the finish line nowhere in sight, she realized that she was in a longer and more difficult race. Instead of dropping out, she simply kept running. The accidental half-marathoner completed her 13.1-mile race and placed 1,885th out of 2,111 finishers. Now that’s perseverance!
While undergoing persecution, many first-century believers in Jesus wanted to drop out of the race for Christ, but James encouraged them to keep running. If they patiently endured testing, God promised a double reward (James 1:4, 12). First, “perseverance [would] finish its work” so they could be “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v. 4). Second, God would give them the “crown of life”—life in Jesus on earth and the promise of being in His presence in the life to come (v. 12).
Some days the Christian race feels like it’s not the one we signed up for—it’s something longer and more difficult than we expected. But as God provides what we need, we can persevere and keep on running.
What difficulty are you enduring right now? What can you do to remain faithful to God as you undergo testing?
Dear God, my legs are tired, and I feel like giving up. Please strengthen me.
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